The False Admiral Read Online Free PDF Page A

looked down to find my hands trembling.
    There were three pairs of eyes on me.
    â€œAre you all right, sir?” Nils asked, cocking his head.
    â€œWe’re in trouble. Get on there,” I said, pointing at the console. “Find me a map. Playtime’s over.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    I got up and stepped away. If I dealt with this now, it was going to be pretty obvious. And slipping away would be just as bad. I had to wait. I took some shaky breaths.
    â€œAdmiral?”
    â€œ
Yes
, Lieutenant?”
    â€œWhat’s the trouble, sir?” She knew. She was a doctor, after all. And she had spent our entire time together staring at me. She’d probably noticed before I had. Maybe that was why she was so pissed off.
    â€œWe don’t know where we are, and our ship isn’t working,” I replied, keeping my tone even. “Things are not ideal. And I’m not having a good wake-up,” I added. That was true, at least.
    She gave me a pitying look. “Do better,” she said.
    â€œAll right,” I said, putting up my hands. “All right.”
    Salmagard and Nils turned to look at me. Deilani folded her arms. Was that smugness?
    I gave her a disgusted look, and reached into my bag.
    â€œLet’s keep the judgment to a minimum,” I said, taking out a hypo and injecting myself.
    Deilani turned to the others, jerking her chin at me.
    â€œOur honorary admiral,” she said.
    â€œHey, come on,” I said. I was feeling better already. “Even admirals can have vices, right? I’m on vacation.”
    â€œWhat did you just take?” Deilani asked, cutting me off.
    â€œThat’s kind of personal,” I replied, glancing at Salmagard. She was completely expressionless.
    Deilani twitched an eyebrow. “From the withdrawal, I’m going to say synthetic opiates.”
    â€œYou cheated,” I said. “Who told you?”
    Deilani just looked at me. I sighed.
    â€œAll right, you got me. I’m dependent. You can report me when we get to Payne Station. I’m sure that’ll be great. They’ll probably demote me and garnish some wages or something.”
    She gave me another one of those pitying looks. “I don’t know who you are,” she said, “but you aren’t getting off that easy.”
    â€œWhat? For this?” I held up my empty hypo.
    â€œFor impersonating an officer. You’re going to prison.”
    â€œI wish,” I said.
    Deilani blinked, and Salmagard cut in.
    â€œSir, can we activate a beacon?” she asked.
    It was a sensible suggestion, and a good rescue. We needed to get on task. “Worry about me later, Lieutenant. I’m the least of your problems.”
    I turned to Salmagard. “No. I don’t think so.” I shook my head. “Maybe we could if this was still a Ganraen ship, but it’s full of Evagardian systems, and if the computer’s down, there is no beacon. I would
love
to know what’s wrong with the systems,” I added to Nils.
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œIs it sabotage? Because if it looks like sabotage, then we’re getting somewhere.”
    â€œI don’t know, sir.”
    At first I hadn’t been sure, but it couldn’t be coincidence. Even a ship as old as this wouldn’t just happen to fall apart at the same time my sleeper did. What had been done to my sleeper had also been done to this computer.
    â€œDo you have a reason to suspect sabotage?” Deilani asked. She’d deflated a little, but she wouldn’t let go. Not while there was still breath in her body. I respected that, but I wasn’t at my best.
    I spread my arms. “I think this is all pretty damn weird,” I told her.
    â€œBut where are the androids?” Deilani pressed.
    â€œNever deployed,” I said. “Or we’d see them all over.” There are no androids, kid. Ganraen ship, Evagardian crew. Evagardian systems. Androids